Mexico Shuts Hair And Expels Its Cast After One ShowingThe New York Times - January 6, 1969

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 5 - The American musical Hair has been
closed after one performance in Acapulco, the Pacific coast resort, and
17 foreign members of the cast have been expelled from Mexico.

The effort to bring the off-beat show, now running on
Broadway, to a city never noted for its staid morals ran into string opposition
from municipal authorities, who were back by the Ministry of the Interior
in Mexico City.

Members of the Mexican and international jet set who have
made Acapulco one of their major capitals appeared to enjoy the show at
its premiere on Friday night. A large part of the audience, which
included the show's authors, Jerome (sic) Ragni and James Rado, had made
a special trip to be present at the opening.

Sponsored by a local cabaret owner, Alfredo Elias Calles,
a grandson of the late President Plutarco Elias Calles, the show features
some nudity, and it is believed that it was this that the Mexican authorities
found objectionable. There had also been a strong official prejudice
in Mexico against hippies, many of whom have been expelled on various occasions
from the country.

Mr. Calles said that he was planning to protest to the
Ministry of the Interior against what he termed a violation of freedom
of expression.

On Saturday morning seals were placed on the theater doors
without warning. Early this morning agents of the Ministry of the
Interior knocked on the doors of the foreign cast members, took them to
a detention center and told them they had 24 hours to leave Mexico.

The unexpected end of the theatrical venture found the
foreign cast members with no ready way of obeying the expulsion order,
because air traffic out of Acapulco after the holiday season was heavy.
The cast was said to be planning to travel first by bus to Mexico City.

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